Jump to content
Check out the Spin Axis Podcast! ×
IGNORED

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Thread


Note: This thread is 3697 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Recommended Posts

  • Moderator
Posted

People are predicting ~ 200m, 250m, 300m for the opening weekend. Analysts I think somewhere around 225m? There's already 50m in advance sales. I don't think if you're accounting for total domestic take, the opening will have a big influence. If the movie is somewhere between good and great, it's going to have long legs. That percentage drop-off in receipts in the coming weeks will be small. 

It will be fun reading the post-game reviews and social media in the coming weeks. This movie is going to be analyzed to death. 

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator
Posted

I peeked at the review headlines and it looks good. Lots of gushing, some tempered statements. Rotten Tomatoes - 97%, Metacritic - 83. I got a little mini-minor spoiler from one headline, but the spoiler was something lots of people speculated anyway. Those browser extensions that block spoilers don't work that well, too sensitive, so just gonna "analog"/preemptively block them la la la la la. If someone says anything within earshot of me, I'm gonna punch them in the face. :~(

 

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator
Posted

This is just end to end awesome sauce.

Jimmy Fallon, The Roots & "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Cast Sing "Star Wars" Medley (A Cappella)

 

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator
Posted

A zero, nil, nada, zippo, zilch spoilers review of The Force Awakens.

Quote

Without giving too much away, I will say The Force Awakens actually feels like Star Wars again, more so than any film since 1983. From the bickering back and forth of the characters — John Boyega and Daisy Ridley have a wonderful dynamic, ping ponging off one another in ways that feel both warmly familiar and surprising — to the measured use of familiar faces like Chewbacca, C-3PO, and yes, Han Solo and Princess Leia, The Force Awakens understands how audiences originally connected with Lucas’ films. If the prequels felt like a grab bag of ham-fisted shout-outs with shoehorned origin stories, Abrams’ film simply sets up shop in the middle of a long, ongoing narrative and tells its little piece. Despite the large scale, the approach feels small, almost humble — and it’s precisely how the original Star Wars worked when it opened in 1977.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/16/10243884/star-wars-the-force-awakens-review

  • Upvote 1

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Posted
3 hours ago, nevets88 said:

A zero, nil, nada, zippo, zilch spoilers review of The Force Awakens.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/16/10243884/star-wars-the-force-awakens-review

Thanks for posting this. I'm too scared to look at anything Star Wars for fear of having the plot spoiled when there is only one more day until I go to see it in theaters. Most of the time I don't care about stuff being spoiled, but this is different for me.

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Administrator
Posted
50 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

Thanks for posting this. I'm too scared to look at anything Star Wars for fear of having the plot spoiled when there is only one more day until I go to see it in theaters. Most of the time I don't care about stuff being spoiled, but this is different for me.

I was attending Apple's WWDC back in… 2000? 2001? Something like that.

My friends were talking about Star Trek or Star Wars or something, and I commented that I didn't really care about either of them very much (though I disliked Star Trek while I was ambivalent about Star Wars).

My friend Jeff said "yeah, but Erik, you're like a weird geek. You date women, you play sports, and you don't care about Star Trek or Wars."

So… long way of saying, I don't care if I see a spoiler or not. I might even seek some out so that I know who is who again. I don't remember the last time I watched a Star Wars movie.

I know, puts me in the minority… :-)

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator
Posted

I've been a casual fan until recently, don't own any toys, just digital copies of the movies. I guess because I like JJ Abrams' movies and he started off Lost and the prospect of seeing this 30 year old saga continued w/all the benefits of today's technology plus the nostalgia aspect, I'm following it closely.

I remember watching Battlestar Galactica, the original series. It was terrible and campy and one of the many tv series capitalizing on Star Wars' coattails. The special effects were terrible. Then the Scifi channel rebooted it, with realistic spaceship and battle scenes and good actors and good writing just totally blew me away - this is kind of the same thing.

Plus genre fiction writing for tv and movies has really improved by leaps and bounds. It's not b grade material and b list actors anymore.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, TFA has already made $100m in advance ticket sales. 

Quote

Year-end holiday advance ticket sales for J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens have crossed $100 million in North America, an unheard-of number, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. 

That includes $50 million to $60 million in advance ticket sales for the film's opening weekend. Force Awakens, which held its world premiere Monday night in Los Angeles, begins rolling out Thursday night before playing everywhere Friday morning.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/star-wars-force-awakens-advance-849156

 

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Posted

I've got tickets for a 9 AM IMAX showing on Friday for my dad and I. The only site that I've been visiting since Monday is this one, because it's the only one that I know won't spoil the movie for me, lol

That being said, starting tomorrow, I'll be essentially off the internet until around 12 PM Friday afternoon. I am too hyped for this movie to get spoiled now! 

Hunter Bishop

"i was an aspirant once of becoming a flamenco guitarist, but i had an accident with my fingers"

My Bag

Titleist TSI3 | TaylorMade Sim 2 Max 3 Wood | 5 Wood | Edel 3-PW | 52° | 60° | Blade Putter

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Posted
2 hours ago, iacas said:

I was attending Apple's WWDC back in… 2000? 2001? Something like that.

My friends were talking about Star Trek or Star Wars or something, and I commented that I didn't really care about either of them very much (though I disliked Star Trek while I was ambivalent about Star Wars).

My friend Jeff said "yeah, but Erik, you're like a weird geek. You date women, you play sports, and you don't care about Star Trek or Wars."

So… long way of saying, I don't care if I see a spoiler or not. I might even seek some out so that I know who is who again. I don't remember the last time I watched a Star Wars movie.

I know, puts me in the minority… :-)

You just wanted everyone to know that.. ha ha.

Vishal S.

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator
Posted
3 hours ago, mvmac said:

All of the reviews I've seen so have been very positive, so that's great to see.

The negatives people are saying is that it's too conservative, nothing new.

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Administrator
Posted
5 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

You just wanted everyone to know that.. ha ha.

I felt weird writing it, but I'd already written enough, I just figured I'd finish it.

I think I have a pretty decent idea of who most of the main people are. ;-)

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Posted

I dunno ... it's just Star Wars.  (As far as "spoilers" are concerned, I mean.)  It's not an M. Night Shamalangadingdong movie or a murder mystery or something where the whole point is the twist at the end.  With those types of movies, I get it.  If you knew that Bruce Willis was dead from the beginning or knew before she realized it that Clarice was at the wrong house or Hannibal was wearing that dudes face, then, yeah, those movies are going to be a little less interesting the first time through.  But Star Wars?  I still get excited watching some of the old ones for the zillionth time, and I've known whats happening there for 35 years. ;)

Sure, it'll be nice going into it without knowing anything, but I'm not going to alter my life for a week just to ensure that.  It's going to be enjoyable even if somebody waits outside the theater as I'm walking in telling me that Sharon Stones lesbian girlfriend did it. :-P

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator
Posted
2 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

I dunno ... it's just Star Wars.  (As far as "spoilers" are concerned, I mean.)  It's not an M. Night Shamalangadingdong movie or a murder mystery or something where the whole point is the twist at the end.  With those types of movies, I get it.  If you knew that Bruce Willis was dead from the beginning or knew before she realized it that Clarice was at the wrong house or Hannibal was wearing that dudes face, then, yeah, those movies are going to be a little less interesting the first time through.  But Star Wars?  I still get excited watching some of the old ones for the zillionth time, and I've known whats happening there for 35 years. ;)

Sure, it'll be nice going into it without knowing anything, but I'm not going to alter my life for a week just to ensure that.  It's going to be enjoyable even if somebody waits outside the theater as I'm walking in telling me that Sharon Stones lesbian girlfriend did it. :-P

I get that and am very spoiler insensitive and will read, watch or listen to reviews with spoilers before watching most movies - it's the journey, the slow unravelling of how it happens rather than what. If one has been following the making of the movie for a year, since the first teaser, it's not a big deal to wait a couple of more days and be genuinely surprised what happens, even though the entire plot details is just a couple of taps away now. If I lived in a country whose release date is next year, I'd know the entire movie by now. Going by all the non spoiler reviews I've read and watched, I think I have a pretty good idea what's going to happen though.

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator
Posted

Here's a handy guide of the new characters.

http://www.theonion.com/slideshow/guide-characters-force-awakens-52061

 

Scott

Titleist, Edel, Scotty Cameron Putter, Snell - AimPoint - Evolvr - MirrorVision

My Swing Thread

boogielicious - Adjective describing the perfect surf wave

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator
Posted

A complete guide to the new Star Wars canon before The Force Awakens
 

You don't need this for the movie, but it fills in a lot of blanks of what happened between episode VI and VII. 

Quote

When Disney bought Lucasfilm, the company threw almost every piece of Star Wars lore away. In a flash, literally decades of stories from its expanded universe were nixed from canon — cleaning the slate in order to give director J. J. Abrams freedom to tell a new tale starting moments after Return of the Jedi ended.

But those missing pieces are very quickly being filled by a new Star Wars universe that's equal parts expansive and expensive, costing both time and money to learn everything. The story of Star Wars, for the kind of fan that wants to know everything, is much bigger than the movies, spanning several novels, comic book series, video games, and TV shows.

It's almost impossible to keep track of everything, and for the casual Star Wars fan, none of this is likely necessary to know before going into The Force Awakens. But if you really want to know what's happened in the three decades between the new film and Return of the Jedi's final party scene, we're here to help.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/16/10215194/star-wars-the-force-awakens-guide-canon

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • Moderator
Posted

 

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Note: This thread is 3697 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Want to join this community?

    We'd love to have you!

    Sign Up
  • TST Partners

    Carl's Place
    PlayBetter
    Golfer's Journal
    ShotScope
    The Stack System
    FitForGolf
    FlightScope Mevo

    Coupon Codes (save 10-20%): "IACAS" for Mevo/Stack/FitForGolf, "IACASPLUS" for Mevo+/Pro Package, and "THESANDTRAP" for ShotScope. 15% off TourStriker (no code).
  • Posts

    • Day 610 - 2026-06-03 Got some work in between lessons today. Rare late day, teaching until 7:30pm.
    • Let's continue on… Cool. The thing is, nobody's claiming par is "reliable" and par's inclusion piggy-backs in the course rating, which is awfully close to par and, thus, brings par in to make it make sense. Once again, for those in the back… (CR - Par) just makes it really easy to know what kind of score you need to shoot to best, match, or play worse than your handicap index. Yes, when par is different, the players from the higher par tees get an extra stroke (72 vs. 71, the 72s get an extra stroke. That makes sense and is a small complication (more info at https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/handicapping/roh/Content/rules/Committee%20Content/USGA/LG_R6d.htm). However, most of the time, this adjustment will not be needed, as many courses play to the same par for the same genders from all sets of tees. And, the rare times it is needed, par (measured in whole numbers, integers) and strokes (also whole numbers/integers) map easily and the idea is easily grasped. Dean seems to be unaware of the fact that most every golfer carries something orders of magnitude more powerful than the highest end desktop computers available the last time he consulted with the USGA in their pockets. While it is quaint that his club puts printouts by the first tee… get with the times, Dean. Look up your handicap index and course handicap in the GHIN app and get on with it. It's a better system than the one that didn't account — at all — for a difference in the playing conditions (via an algorithm, not a judgment). Dean's assertions about the "less precise system because of par" continues to make absolutely zero sense. Right, it still changed tee to tee. Now it just changes differently… and in a way that more accurately reflects the score you need to shoot to play to your handicap. Previously, a 1.1 index would get 1 stroke on a 66.7/122 par-72 course. Now they give four strokes back to the course and must shoot 68 to play to their handicap. This makes way more sense. The 18-shot difference is a pretty extreme example. Maybe a long course that also offers a par-three set of tees could play that long, but… man, that's not going to be super common. Sensationalistic much, Dean? Also, once those unhappy (complete assumption) golfers realize a) what the change shows them (playing to net par = playing to your index) and b) realizes that their differential is going to be the same… I think they'll get over their initial questions. No. And yet… if he shoots the same scores, he'll get the same handicap index he has now. But he'll know on each course what score he needs to shoot to "play to his handicap." Sheesh, Dean. This stuff isn't that hard to figure out. Enough with the sensationalistic stuff. I don't find it "unacceptable" at all. Then again, I'm not nearly 80 and seemingly incapable of doing basic math these days. No. This literally makes no sense, as that part of the differential calculation and the course handicap calculation remains identical. Good! No. Categorically wrong. They should have been adjusting their handicaps all along. Previously it was by subtracting the course ratings. Which… is still basically what's done, with the addition of the course rating being "baked in" to the course handicap calculation. Dean is wrong here, or doing some math heretofore unknown by the world. When par is the same, what determines the difference in handicaps? The course rating, which Dean loves! Sheesh! You had to things when players were in situations like this before, too. This is getting exhausting. He keeps using words like "less precise" and "unfair" but does not seem to understand what they mean. This is like the Princess Bride meme: "you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." The caps reduce upward movement. Committees have reign to reduce a player's handicap, and there's still an automatic Exceptional Score Reduction. I'm going through these more quickly now because… well, it's silly how badly Dean misses the mark with this blog post. Dean is literally confusing the upward movement (with the soft and hard caps) here with the exceptional score reduction which is used when lowering handicaps due to an exceptionally good score. The creators of the WHS are handicap experts. They know more about the current state of handicaps/handicapping than the Pope Emeritus. It's been shown to have almost no effect across all handicaps. Yes, some 36s under the old system are now 35s under the new system. Yawn. He should have stopped there. It's easier to apply and makes more sense. This makes no sense. It's "not complex" but players will have to guess? And, for men or women, the stroke index of each hole doesn't change because they play a different set of tees. They get a different number of strokes, but it's always been true that when you get 14 strokes you apply a stroke to stroke index holes 1-14, and when you get 11, to just holes with a SI of 1-11. Objection, your honor. Assumes facts not in evidence. Dean's just out here continuing to make shit up about "the inaccuracy of par" and ignoring that with Par (an integer) came the Course Rating, which he agrees is precise and accurate. No. No, this is inaccurate. Also, as noted, you can randomly assign stroke indexes, and so long as all the low numbers or all the high numbers are not clumped together at the beginning or ends of the 18 holes, matches generally work out the same. This is inaccurate. It is an algorithm that looks at scores. That's it. Also, this is better than a system like the prior one where no such thing existed at all. Wildly inaccurate and off-base. Did they do actual testing? No need. They have millions and millions of rounds and ran many, many, many simulations. That's testing. Dean seems to continue to be unaware of the fact that computers are more powerful now than they were in 2002. But, he's nearly 80, so we can understand if not going so far as to give him a pass on how much he gets wrong. Cool. Noted. For the most part that was because many countries haven't been able to rate enough of their courses. :sigh:
    • Day 3 (3 Jun 26) - More work on keeping arms connected today - hard foam balls with 7i and 5w…..
    • Day 274 6-3 flow drill getting chest through, arms in front. Arms get a little pinned to the side, not as much in front as I want them when I add speed. 
    • Shot 48 yesterday.  For me bogey golf is good.  I was 10 over through 7 and figured with a Par 3 and 4 coming on all I needed was birdie / par to get my 45. I had a great tee shot on #8 and sunk  a 5 footer for birdie, game was coming together, now just needed par on #9. Had a great tee drive and the green was within range for a hoped GIR or nGIR.  But I pulled the shot left into tall weeds and needed to take a drop.  So much for par, but a bogey for 46 is still good for me. I hit my lob wedge to get over a small tree and saw the ball riding nicely  on line to the pin when my club hit the ball a 2nd time on my follow through causing the ball to change directions and ended up @ pin high but along the same tall weeds I just took an unplayable out of.  had no room for a backswing, Just hacked at it and it shot across the green to the rough on the far side.  Needed a chip & 1 putt got a triple bogey. you can see the hole fall apart in the screenshot below.  
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to TST! Signing up is free, and you'll see fewer ads and can talk with fellow golf enthusiasts! By using TST, you agree to our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and our Guidelines.